Last Resort
by Cissmoll
Summary: Alternate ending where the fight with Bhunivelze takes an unexpected turn. Prequel to Consider his love an honor.


Lightning watched as Bhunivelze went through yet another transformation. _This is his fourth form, _Lightning thought, raising her sword once again. _This has to be his final one. _

Bhunivelze's fourth form turned out to be more lethal than all his earlier forms combined. He seemed to have given up on trying convincing her to become his goddess and was no longer holding back even the slightest. He was trying to kill her, and if Lightning didn't step up her game he would probably succeed.

Lightning gave her all. She used up every drop of elemental power she could summon, taking and receiving more damage than she'd thought was even possible. When she delivered her final blow, she truly thought that she'd defeated him. She truly thought she'd killed a god.

Bhunivelze roared. His voice was guttural yet mechanical; a monstrous, distorted version of his vessel's real voice. Lightning tried not to listen, tried to shut out everything reminding her of Hope. _It's not him, _she thought, covering her ears. _It's not Hope. It's Bhunivelze. Not Hope. _

The god in front of her was shrinking, pieces of his extravagant armor detaching from his body and crashing to the ground. His howling cries echoed through Lightning's body, and she could have sworn they were turning less godlike and more human by the second. She raised her sword, her hands shaking from exhaustion. Bhunivelze was dying – he _had _to be – but he was doing it way too slowly. She gathered her final ounce of strength, forcing her muscles to move towards the still shrinking creature.

The last piece of armor to fall from Bhunivelze's body was his mask. Lightning quickly closed her eyes, but it was already too late. She'd already recognized his face.

_It's not him, _she thought, tears rolling down her cheeks as she swung her blade. _It's not him. _

"Light?"

_It's not him. _

Her sword fell to the ground, joining the armor scattered all over the checkered floor. She looked at her treacherous hand, cursing herself for not being strong enough to slice the man's neck. She bent down to pick up the sword again, but the man – whom she still refused to refer to by name – grabbed her wrist.

"Where are we? Is it over? Is he dead?" he asked. "Light, please look at me."

"It's not him," Lightning whispered, fixing her gaze on the ground. She was too tired to move, too tired to _think. _Her body seemed to be frozen in place.

"What do you mean? Light, look at me!" the man begged. He placed his free hand below her chin and tilted her head back. Before she could stop herself, her eyes had left the ground to meet his.

He looked like Hope. Not like the Hope from the Ark, but the Hope that had been the leader of the Academy. He was dressed in a long, blue robe, and there were still traces of Bhunivelze's lightning bolt-shaped marks on his face. His eyes were ocean blue, so different from Bhunivelze's emerald green.

"Hope?" she said, staring in disbelief.

"You did it, Light. You saved the world," he said with a smile. The smile was warm and sincere, and Lightning knew it could only belong to one person.

"It's actually you," she breathed, throwing her arms around his neck. Hope wrapped his arms around her waist and lifted her up, spinning her around in the air. Lightning smiled, overwhelmed with joy and relief. Her job was far from over, but she decided to take a few moments to just enjoy the victory.

"You need to leave, now," she finally said. "The new world is waiting for you."

"What?" Hope put her down on the ground and grabbed her shoulders, holding her at arm's length. "You're coming, too."

"No, I'm not," Lightning said, hiding her sadness behind her smile. "Someone has to take care of the souls of the dead. I'll stay in the chaos and become the new goddess of death. I'll take Etro's place. I'm the only one who can."

"Then I'll stay with you. I'm not letting you out of my sight again." Hope's voice had taken on an unfamiliarly dangerous tone and his grip on her shoulders was starting to hurt. Lightning could tell something was happening inside him and it scared her.

"You can't. There's no place for humans in the world of the dead. Please, Hope, join the others in the new world. You can live for both of us." She tried to keep her smile up, but the separation anxiety was getting to her. "Please, don't make this harder than it already is."

"No. I'm not letting go of you again." Hope's voice was changing, regaining its distorted reverb.

"No," Lightning whispered, finally realizing what was happening. "Hope, you have to fight it. You have to fight _him_. Snap out of it!"

Hope ignored her, lost in his thoughts. "If you're becoming a goddess… I guess I have no choice but to become a god."

Hope's eyes flashed, turning deep emerald green. Lightning tried to get away from him but his grip on her shoulders was too tight.

"Don't let him do this, Hope," Lightning begged. "Don't let Bhunivelze win. Please, Hope!"

"My vessel has finally accepted me," the man who was no longer Hope said, tilting his head to the side in a very non-human way. "You did in minutes what I could not do in 169 years. I was going to end your life for your betrayal, but I can now see your true value. You are worthy of becoming my goddess."

"Even if I become the goddess of death, I will never be yours," Lightning hissed. "I will fight you for as long as I live. I will get you out of Hope's body. I will-"

Bhunivelze cut her off by grabbing her by the throat, lifting her up until her feet could no longer touch the ground. She clawed at his hand, desperately trying to free herself. Bhunivelze didn't even seem to notice it.

"My vessel needs you. Craves you. I can… _feel_ it," he said, observing her through cold, calculating eyes.

"You don't have feelings," Lightning croaked. "You don't even know how to feel."

"My vessel feels, so therefore I feel. I seem to have gained the ability to understand the human heart." He continued to stare at her, a glimmer of fascination in his eyes. Lightning kept struggling against his grip, but her body was getting weak from the lack of oxygen. Their fight earlier had tired her out completely, leaving her embarrassingly defenseless. She despised herself for not seeing it coming, for not realizing that Bhunivelze would use her feelings for Hope against her as a last resort.

"We seem to have something in common now, my vessel and I," Bhunivelze continued. "Our need for you merges us together. Unifies us. Strengthens us."

Tears started rolling down Lightning's cheeks again as she realized that there was no Hope anymore, nor was there any Bhunivelze. They had somehow become one, and it was all because of her.

"Don't cry, my goddess. I will remove your pain. I will free you from your suffering."

Lightning's eyes widened. She could suddenly sense the god's presence in her own mind, digging deep into her consciousness. Before she could react she'd already began to grow numb, a strange calmness taking over her body.

"No," she whispered, trying to shove the intruder out of her mind. She could feel him take emotion after emotion from her, slowly erasing her humanity.

"I will free you from your present. I will free you from your past," he said, his lips forming a terrifying grin. "The future will be all that remains for you, and the future belongs to me."

Lightning tried to hold on to her memories, even though she could no longer remember why. _I'm Lightning, _she thought. _I'm Lightning. I'm Lightning. I'm… _

When he was finished with her, she was nothing but an empty shell. He gently put her down on the ground, smiling proudly. She didn't know why, but she smiled back. She felt like it was the right thing to do.

"Come with me, my beautiful goddess," he said, taking her hand in his. She nodded, allowing him to lead her away from the battlefield. She didn't know where they were going. She didn't care. She would follow him anywhere, because that was what she was supposed to do.

She was his.

Forever.


End file.
